REMARKS

VICE PRES I DENT HUBERT HUMPHREY

It is good to be back among my friends of the

Ohio Farm Bureau.

You have worked for many years so that economic -and social well-being might be achieved for all rural

America.

L one of the ironies of our time is that, despite

the incredible efficiency of our farmers, rural America

has fallen behind economically while the rest of the w ,.., ..

nation has moved ahead to new prosperity and opportunity.

6..t NJJJ.~ 10 e.#-..,~! -,_....:- ~..n OJU ~"\. ~· .r; ,

From the beginning of this Administration --

since January of 1961 -- it has been the firm conviction

of the late President Kennedy and of President Johnson

that parity of opportunity and income should be restored - 0 ,._

to farmers and the people of rural America.

L I share that conviction.

L.,And so does a majority of the members of Congress.

When the Congress passed the Food and Agricultural

Act of 1965, it was a major fulfillment of President

Johnson's firm request of last February when he said: ., -110ur programs should provide efficient family farmers

an opportunity to earn parity of income."

Few people yet realize the significance of this

legislation.

J No one contends that it will solve all of O!;!r farm

problems.

- 3 -

L But it does represent a major ba;ak-t!Jrough tgwffi:d

better farm income, more judicious use of our land ... -resources, and maxi mum use of our marketing systems

both at home and abroad1 And it assures a continued

adequate supply of food and fiber for all our people.

( It wi II accelerate the progress we have made si nee

1960 in raising net farm income --income that is

2. 3 bi Ilion dollars more today than it was five years ago.

(For the average farmer, this means that his realized

net income is nearly one-third higher today than it was

in 1960.)

strengthen

farm income, help ~r · ~-- ~---·--~--- ....

oduction and use.

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Furthermore, direct payments enable the marketplace

at home and abroad to function more efficiently and

more effectively.

l The new farm bill wi II establish a four-year program 1

This wi II eliminate the

uncertainty and confusion which former farm programs

imposed on farmers.

e feed grain program is the best stabilizer ever

evised for the livestock and poultry industry. Livestock

men need no longer gamble from year to year as to the

price of feed. Now they can make long-term plans.

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l., One of the most important sections of the bill is

the Cropland Adjustment Program. We Ill ve learned

the wisdom in recent years of diverting land not presently - ... needed to new uses or to conservation purposes • ..

J.,;,he Cropland Adjustment Program provides land

adjustment contracts for as long as ten years. But, -most importantly, it contains proper safeguards so that

no single county or area will be decimated of its farms.

L..rhese contracts wi II enable the farmer to make

his plans on a long-range basis. In addition, the program

wi II make land more readily avai I able for new uses,

particularly for outdoor recreation and beautification0

l..!lready, conservation, wildlife and recreation groups

are discussing with state and federal officials how best

to administer the program to serve this multiple purpose.

marketplace is the best mechanism to determine the

flow and pace of commercial agriculture.

Farm products no longer wi II move in domestic

and world markets at artificially high prices,

LJ nstead they wi II be guided by the conditions of

, and demand.

At the same time, the farmer wi II be protected

from depressed income by the payments he receives in

return for his cooperation in diverting acres to uses

other than crop production.

'f" J The Food and Agriculture Act of 1965 provides the

flexibility necessary to keep ·pace with a dynamic and

changing agriculture. .. ,.

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For the majority of commercial family farmers, a

it brings closer than ever the goal of income \\41 ich will -- --enable them to remain on the land.

" It will enable this nation to produce food and fiber

in the quantities we need when we need it -- with -increased efficiency -- and at modest cost in terms of

benefits to producers, consumers and taxpayers ••

/. The American people wi II continue to be better fed

and better clothed, at lower cost, than ever before. LAnd 1

this remarkable achievement when you consider

that today we spend less than 19 cents of our take-home

dollar for food -- far less than any other country in

the world.

And

nutritional standards wi II be vastly improved by the Food

Stamp Program and the School Lunch and Special Milk

programs.

- 8 -

~end., 5tsnaph!IOOI Thich ggrg existed iA "'R9at BMelsfeed

~raiA& already are Moorl~' ~iAOs Ttao ROii\Y Ewrpluses

we qgw ha"O i 9 cgttng and *olncco wj II s+aa51i ly ~i 8ippo8P.

We shall always, however, erovide for adequate reserves.

of food and fiber necessary for national security and

emergencies. -1/--, More and more, American farmers wi II be called

upon to supply world markets. They wi II be better able

to do so because they wi II be competitive. Farm exports . ...,., have been more than six bi Ilion dollars, for the last tr'o

years, which means that more than one out of every five

acres of farm production goes into world markets. In

ten years, our exports should ex~ eight billion dollars~

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~ American abundance will become even more critically

important as the struggle for freedom around the world

continues and as nation after nation outruns its capacity

to feed a growing population

/._ Today, two billion out of the world's t!l!:_ee bi Ilion

people either face imminent hunger and famine or are -subsisting on barely margi na I diets.

" In the year 2000 -- just 35 years from now -- world

population wi II probably be six bi Ilion. American abundance

and agricultural know-how are the only hopes for many

of these people for mai ntai ni ng their subsistence and

for building productive economies of their own.

L...we will continue to r!e on many fronts to raise the

standard of living of rural America and create new opportunites

for its people.

- 10 -

(New education programs wi II close the lag that

places the rural school child two years behind the urban

child in educational achievemerts.

LA new rural housing program will close the housing

gap in rural America where one out of four homes should

be replaced or given major repai,!s. - ~

h_ new community facilities bill of loans and grants

will revitalize some 15,000 rural towns and villages that

are without water or sewer facilities, without fire protection,

without recreation facilities.

President Johnson has declared war on poverty.

That includes poverty in rural America, where half the

nation 1s lowest income families live. We are going to

win that war.

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}!oday we have a !resid_:.rt. and a Congress, who

care about people and their problems.

I.Joday we have an American nation with faith in

itself and in the future.

This is the most exciting, most dynamic -- and

potentially most rewarding -- era of all our hi story. ~ "'----~ awcs~

We have the means. and the determination. to

strive for greatness. for brotherhood, for lasting peace.

We wi II succeed.

# # # # #

V K.t.. (~ Address of/ Hubert H. Humphrey to the delegates and members of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation at their 47th Annual Meeting, November 18, 1965

~- -- -rt..A ~I"W''."· ~

Thank you very much. My, this is the first time that I have had such an audience. It sort of reminds one of those great poems--To the left of you and to the right of you. But, I look ahead of me and here is a splendid audience and I look to my left and your right and there is another large audience and I must say that I'm very happy to have so many people standing behind me this afternoon as I have ~e. I even notice a few here on both flanks; so, you have surrounded me with good people and good fellowship and hospitality, and I'm exceedingly grate­ful to you.

May I first of all express my warm and good wishes to Mr. Sollars, your president, to Mr. Stanfield, and may I once again say to all of the members of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation who came to Washington for that congressional tour--! think some of you must be in this audience--how good it is to be back with you and your full membership. We had quite a time down there. I want to report to all of the delegate members here today that that congressional group who came to Washington behaved--they worked hard. I spent a very, very pleasant evening with them. We discussed many things and I know that I learned a good deal and they were a very tolerant audience. There are others here that I surely would like to just mention. I trust that Mr. Wendell Weller remembers our visit sometime ago; and I know that he and Mr. Stanfield and Mr. Sollars have been doing, along with others--Mr. Palmer--a great job in building this great farm organization. There are some people not with us today who I would like to mention.

First, I come to this marvelous Buckeye State of Ohio, and I am reminded of one of America's leading citizens. A man whose heart is big and warm and true and whose mind is, and continues to be, creative and thoughtful; and I speak of one who helped build this movement, who .. , the greatest cooperator of them all, the man who said that he spent his life building the cooperative so everybody could be a capitalist, and I refer to Murray D. Lincoln, a great man in your community.

Murray Lincoln must be very happy these days despite his illness, happy at least in the knowledge that the abundance that he spoke of so often and he be­lieved in so deeply, that this abundance of food and fiber is now being used more and more for the building of a better world and for creating the conditions in which mankind can live a peaceful life. It's great to have people who are dreamers, people who have some vision. Of course, while they're dreaming and telling you of those dreams and while they have vision and tell you of thosevisions, they are frequently the subject of uninformed attack; but time has a way of proving them to be right and you can hardly ever remember the names of those who did the at­tacking. It's so interesting, isn't it, in history that the men of ideals and ideas live on; their detractors are lost in the dust of history, and I'm glad it's that '<~lay.

Today, you've honored a great public servant, a member of the United States Senate (Senator Lausche), and a very delightful member; and he has an ex­ceedingly delightful and charming wife. He teases me about my sincere affection for her because I'll tell you that Mr§. Lausche is one of the really fhne ladies of our nation's ~apitol, but you've honored today Frank Lausche, your Aenator-­one of your two ~enators--and I gather as I recollect that he's received your Distinguished Service Award for public service and for service to agriculture. A former governor, and United States Senator, a powerful vote getter--my, he must have a good formula--and a warm and good friend, may I say, to Mrs. Humphrey and to Hubert Humphrey, and I want to pay him my respects.

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Vice President's address -- 2

Did I read some place that this was his birthday too? Right close at hand anyway and it's nearly his birthday and so in case I forget, I'll just wish him happy birthday right now.

G I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to pay my respects to your other jenator who works mighty hard and who has carved out a niche in the history of this country for the brevity and the poignancy of his replies. He gets right to the point in fewer words than any man I've ever heard of in all of senatorial history-­Steve Young.

Well, there are many here ~ho I could single out for notice but that isn't why I came. I came first because you were kind enough to invite me and secondly because I almost maneuvered the invitation. I really wanted to come. The truth is that I have long regarded the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation as one of the outstanding farm groups in America. You belong to a great organization, a national organization; yet, you maintain an independence of judgment. It's the kind of independence which I think lends real strength to the farm, the agricultural movement or movements in our land and which produces some mighty good and construc­tive results.

Well, I want to talk to you about our country. I want to talk to you about the role of agriculture in our economy, and I want to visit with you today about the role of agriculture in world affairs.

I have a few notes here, and I want to say to my friends of the media that I stand by every printed word; and if I miss a paragraph or two, which I occasionally do, why, you hold me accountable for what's written because I've never worked for a newspaper. I did work for a radio and television station once. Then they made me make a choice--whether I wanted to do that or be in politics, so I made the choice. But, I know it's not easy for our friends of the media to keep up with some of us in public life; we hand out a copy and then the next thing you know we charge off in this direction and that direction. Well, it's sort of the way man's mind works. When you're getting ready for a meeting, you feel one way and you say things and you write things that you feel you want to say and when you arrive and have a chance to talk to the people, you may find a word or two extra that you want to add.

I want to talk to you today about the economic and social progress of this great Republic. First thing I want to note is that this is, as Abraham Lin­coln put it, the last best hope on earth--our America. I heard you sing as I ar­rived at this hotel and meeting hall, and I know that these great American anthems mean much to us in :terms of music but they mean something also in terms of commit­ment. This America of ours is~ America, The Beautiful; there's no place in the world quite so beautiful, and it is the America of our filgrim fathers. But, it's ours too; and while it's wonderful to know the history of our country, it's very important also to be a part of, to be involved in the making of the history of our country, and you are doing that. You've worked at it for many years, so that the economic and social well being might be achieved for all of rural America. I want it noted that these great farm organizations such as the Ohio Farm Bureau are not parochial, not isolated. They work for the general interest for all of the people. While this is primarily an agricultural or rural organization, it's effect or the things for which it stands affect the lives of everybody.

I come from a small business family. I've said it so many times that it's almost old hat; but I was born above a drug store and literally raised inside of one. The family name is still affixed to that store. Sixty-three years of s~r­vice and I'm proud of it; but I learned early as a boy that our prosperity was not

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Vice President's Address -- 3

measured , ~z what we did so much inside those four walls of that store or that pharmacyrby what happened outside.

We were as prosperous as the customers that walked through our doors,

and my father brought me up in a rural town in a rural area. He was the son of

a farmer; he was a farm boy himself. My mother, the daughter of farm people and

I used to spend every one of my summers en these family farms. We were brought

up to understand the importance of agriculture and the importance of a modern ag­

riculture. I can remember attending those meetings when the county agents used

to come by, you know; and we'd all get together at the local theater, we called it opera house in those days, and they'd have all kinds of lectures and they would

have bulletins and demonstrations. Everybody in town from the barber to the black­

smith joined with the farm agent, the county agent, and the farmers to learn more

about agriculture.

So, when I went to \vashington as a United States Senator, I didn 1 t .go

down there unacquainted with the problems of rural America. I come from them. I

come from rural America. I literally come from the problems because during the

days of my youth--they were difficult days--the days of the 20's and the 30's, the

days when I would see the farmers lined up with their wagons bringing their grain

to market only to know that the first wagon got a much better price than the last

wagon on the same day. The days when credit was difficult, to get it if you could

get it at all and when the farmer was at the mercy of an uncontrollable, irrational

market system. Thank goodness, those days are over.

One of the ironies of our time, however, is that despite these incredible

efficiencies and development of our farmers and their productive mechanism know~{

as the family farm, rural America has fallen behind economically while the rest

of the nation has moved ahead to unprecendented new prosperity and opportunity.

I'm happy to say that rural America is catching up and things are better. Times

are improving. I must say to this wonderful audience today that you cannot judge

all America by this garden spot of America--Ohio.

You know the Humphrey family sort of worked its way through here.

There are some Humphrey's out here now. I used to say during Mr. Eisenhower's

administration when there was a Secretary of the~easury by the name of Mr.

Humphrey, a very delightful gentlemen. I said we're not related politically or

biologically but I thought we ought to clear that up because I wouldn't want my

actions to reflect on his good conduct, you see.

Ohio is not unknown to most of the people a little farther in the

western part of America because most people at one time or another stopped here,

had their family here, and pioneered on to other areas. This is a garden spot,

this whole great heartland of America. of which we are a part. So, you cannot

judge all of America by what you have here. But, I do think that much of the

rest of America can learn a great deal about what can happen to rural America by

seeing what you have done here and what has been done and what has been accomplished

here in Ohio is primarily the product of self-help, primarily the product of the great cooperative system, a great cooperative organization; andif I don't say

another thing today, I want to get this off my chest and out of my mind right now-­

the American farmer must depend above all upon his own cooperative to give him the

strength that he needs in that market place to protect his price and his income.

There are a number of people who have tried to spread fals~umors about

our cooperatives. They'd have you believe that they're contrary to the American

system. Now, that's sheer bun~m. The cooperative is as much a part of the American system as the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, Bunker Hill, and the

Washington Monument. The cooperative is a part of the history of this land and --more--

Vice President's Address -- 4

the farm cooperative has been in many instances, and most instances, the salvation of the American family farmer. The cooperative is free enterprise at its Puritan best, and I want to admonish and encourage every single person within the range of my voice to help build these farm cooperatives so that the farmer can do a better job marketing his product, so that he can receive a better income from the marketing of his product, so that he can receive the many and varied services that he needs for his family farm operationJ and so that he has a place and mechanism through which he can consult with his neighbors an~ fellow producers. The coopera­tive is an integral part of the economic social structure of the United States of America. It's a part of our free enterprise economy system, and I know of no state that's done a better job than this state in the development of cooperatives, and I know of no organization that more fully symbolizes the strength and the meaning and the helpfulness of a cooperative than the Ohio Farm Bureau; I salute you for it.

Let me assure you that this Administration that I am privileged to represent here today--your 6overnment-- supports cooperatives and encourages them.

Since the beginning of this Administration in January, 1961, it's been the firm conviction of the former late President Kennedy and of President Johnson that parity of opportunity and income should be restored to the farmers and the people of rural America and I, as one American, share that conviction. I fought for that conviction all of my public life and that conviction is shared by an overwhelming majority of the members of Congress both political parties.

I want to make it quite clear that I never thought that either political party had a monopoly on virtue or wisdom and that we can generally find support for these objectives that I speak about by going down the list of both political parties and find people that support your program and some that don't and I recall old Samuel Gompers of the labor movement used to say that the best kind of politics he knew was to reward your friends and punish your enemies. That was about as partisan as he ever go; and I think farmers have been able to do that without even saying it. I've been up for election in my state and I kind of know when I've stumbled a bit. Somebody didn't tell me about it until election day, but I got the message.

Recently your Congress passed the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965. You never pass any piece of legislation that meets everybody's requirements. Legislation is the product of compromise; and, remember this, your Congress re­presents the nation and the farm population is a rather small part of the total population of the nation. Nevertheless, those that come from urban areas now understand the importance of a healthy farm economy. I believe that the recent actions of the Congress demonstrate that. Congres-smen from urban districts were as interested in a farm program as congressmen from rural districts. If I could leave one little word of advice, I would suggest that we quite talking about each other strictly as urban and rural and think about ourselves primarily as Americans. Some of us living in rural areas, some on farms, some in cities and villages, and some in metropolitan areas. But, we're all in this country together and we're all in the same boat. You can't have prosperity in America with a large segment of your country falling far behind, whether that segment is labor, agriculture, or management. When the Congress passed this Food and Agriculture Act, it was a major fulfillment of President Johnson's requests of last February when he said to you and to me, 11 0ur program should provide efficient family farmers an op­portunity to earn parity of income. 11

I'm not speaking now of price support pr?grams; most people think about agriculture programs and that's all they talk about~price supports. I'm talking

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Vice President's Address -- 5

about a host of services. Agriculture research, agriculture credit, the Farmers Home Administration, the ~ural ilectrificationAdministration, the ~urallfelephone ~dministration. I'm talking about conservation, proper land use, about our experi-ment stations, about our county agent system, about the development of our coopera­tives. These are all a part of the farm program. Generally, when you read about the farm program, all anybody wants to talk about is who got the price support on cotton, tobacco, wheat, or something else. That's not the whole farm program. That's a part of it. Imagine what kind of a sailor it would be who talked about a ship and only mentioned the rudder or the boiler room. They'd put that fella back on land and lock him up in the brig. They wouldn't let him write columns or make commentary. So, when we tr,lk about a farm program, we're talking about a whole spectrum, a policy that a~overnment federal, state, and local may design relating to rural America.

Few people, I believe, realize the full significance of this new legis­lation. I don't contend for a moment nor should an~ne else that it solves all of our problems. If it did, you wouldn't need any meeting here today. We will always have some new problems. But, it does represent a major breakthrough toward better farm income. I'm going up to my home state tonight. I know about farm income; I look at a cash register; I get a report from our business every 30 days and I can tell you what farm income '"'like without every seeing a farmer. Just look at Hum­phrey's drug store's cash register. I know what the farm inco-me is, because that's the only way we get any income is when the folks out there in the Dakotas have it. That's where that little establishment happens to be. I hope that this is not con­flict of interest, but if you happen to be driving by out there, stop in. I told my brother I did more good for that store than he did, but he denies that.

This new farm program represents not only a breakthrough toward better income but a more judicious use of our land resources, maximum use of our marketing systems at both home and abroad. It relates to water supply, wate~heds, conserva­tion, and it assures a continued adequate supply of food and fiber for all of our people. I wonder what would happen in America if we had a blackout on food and fiber like they had a blackout up there in the northeast~ited States on electrical power. I wonder what Americans would think if we had as faulty an agricultural production system as some of the other nations of the world. We're pretty accustome< to being able to walk into the shop andget anything we want--high-quality food at reasonable prices.

Farm programs will accelerate the progress that we have made in these past five years in raising farm income and I will note that farm net income despite fewer people on the farm and there's a substantial smaller number of people on the farms today than five years ago--farm net income is up $2,300,000,000. That's a pretty sizable lift in five years. This means that his realized net income is nearly a third higher today than it was in 1960.

This new farm bill and program is based upon the market system. Instead of artificially high prices through support mechanisms, there are what we call the market prices with direct payments to enable the market place at home and abroad to function more efficiently and more effectively. I think one of its best attributes is that it's a four-year program, at least you'll know what you have for a little while. This will eliminate some uncertainity and confusion that has always been the bane of other farm programs.

And now just a word about the feed grains because this means a great deal to Ohio as it does to Minnesota. The feed grain program is not only good for the feed grain producer and believe me it is} ~tt's the best stabilizer ever devised

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Vice President's Address-- 6

for the livestock and poultry industry. Livestock men need no longer gamble from year to year as to the price of feed. Now they can make long-term plans. Feed grains are related to pork and beef just as surely as the sun and the stars and the moon are related to the heavens. If a persop doesn't understand that, he's missed the first year's course on basic agricultur~economics.

One of the most important sections of this bill, however, is the cropland adjustment program. We've learned that the wisdom in recent years that diverting our land not presently needed to new uses and to conservation purposes. In my church and I think in everyones, we have what '"e call Stewardship Sunday. We're

-stewards of God's greatest gift to life. We're stewards of our own lives and we're stewards of the land; we're stewards of these great natural resources and I think it's proper for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people--a government that belongs to us--to be concerned about these great resources and the cropland adjustment program, which was very much a part of the Farm Bureau program, provides land adjustment and contracts for as long as 10 years, but most imp ,rtantly, it contains proper safeguards so that no single county or area will be de,~mated of its farms.

Oh, how I used to worry about one of .the earlier programs; they just take out all the land. I saw them do it to my grandfather's farm. I never was quite able to find out who was responsible for that; but when I saw grandad's farm that was tended, may I say, by a Norwegian immigrant farmer with the loving care of a great agriculturis;and saw that farm just lying idle with far too many weeds growing on it, the whole government got about five letters from me per day as a citizen. Then, I remembered that I was a senator too, and I started raising cain about_ it. I remember my grandfather giving me a wooden rake to help to go out and rake around the shocks when I was a boy. He didn't believe in having anything wasted and when old grandpa passed away, there were 14,000 bushels of good wheat in his graineries. He knew how to store up for a rainy day. He was a real farmer.

So cropland adjustment will not mean rural counties with no farms and no people. We need small tolvns. As a matter of fact, the more I see of the big cities the more I advocate we need some small towns. Everybody can't move to New York and Cleveland and to Minneapolis and Chicago and Detroit, and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. It's good to have some folks living out in other parts of America too. And, those small towns will only be there if there's a trade territory and you can't trade with gophers. You have to have people, and people are on farms. So cropland adjustment doesn't mean population removal. It means conservation. Now, these con­tracts will enable the farmer to make his long-range plans.

In addition the program will make land more readily available for new use~particularly outdoor recreation and beautification. Already conservation, wildlife, and recreation groups are discussing with state and federal officials how better to administer the program to serve these multiple purposes. And, if we work this program right, we might be able to see that the feeding of the birds goes on the land that doesn't have the crops. That'd be a nice savings for some of you.

But, above all, this new legislation also recogniz~ that the market place is the best mechanism to determine the flow and the pace of commercial agri­culture. I'm one of those persons in public life that doesn't believe that the government ought supplant the private economy. I believe that the role of govern­ment is to supplement--to aid or assist--and not to supplant. So, we want to work with the mechanism that's in our whole economic system--the market place. Farm products will no longer move in domestic and world markets at artificially high prices. Instead they will be guided by the conditions of supply and demand. At the same time, the farmer will be protected from disastrously depressed income by the

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Vice President's Address -- 7

payments that he receives in turn for his cooperation in diverting acres or con­trolling his crop produc~fot~iverting acres to use other than crop production.

The Food and Agriculture Act of 1965 provides flexibility necessary to keep pace with the changing and dynamic agriculture. And, just to make sure that we do keep pace and that we really know what we are doing, the President~nounced the appointment of a National Advisory Food and Fiber Commission. I've been trying to get this done for years. And I•Pfell you why, because I wanted somebody outside the government--a panel of people representing farmers, businessmen, workers, consumers, agriculture{economists, conservationists.-a good cross section of in­telligent people from all parts of America to take a good healthy look at America's agriculturO!policies--both foreign and domestic--and to report back to the Congress and the PresidentJ and to yo~ as to what we might do to make our economy better be­cause we have obviously shortcomings and limitations; one of the real problems that we face in government is that you get into the groove, so to speak, and it's hard to get some new thinking. You sort of build on what you have. After all, the man that presents or designs a bill for the Congress this year is pretty much the same fellow that did it five years ago. Now, he may change; he may learn; and they're bard-working people; they're conscientious people. This is no criticism of their integrity or their ability--it's just the fact that most of us are somewhat limited by our own experience or environment.

So, the way you get some new ideas is to go on out and get some new people that have no particular identification with the government itself. We've done that, and I'm happy to say thatJhe chairman of this commission is one of the outstanding educ~tors and agricultur economists ar.d agricultural scientists. He's the head of the ~chool of Agriculture at the ~and4rant college in my state, the University of Minnesota, Dr. Berg--a highly-respected man. There are some people on this Commission that will look to the foreign trade needs of our agricultural economy, pricing practices, the marketing system, the distribution system, the expansion and development of cooperatives, the entire spectrum of agricultural policy will be reviewed. I think this is the most significant agricultural policy decision that's been made by this ~overnment for many a year.

Speaking once more of our present law~for the majority of the commercial farmers, this new Act of 1965 brings closer than ever the goal of income which will enable our farm people to remain on the land and this is a problem for us. Our young people, too many of them, leave the land, and why? Because after a good education, after marriage--frequently to a young lady that comes from a home in the city--this young-farmer-to-be doesn't see the same opportunity out there working 16 to 18 hours a day in rural America that he sees in the city. Therefore, our task as individuals and as a nation is to try to make the rewards of·rural living and work in rural areas of agriculture of husbandry to make those rewards at least commiserate with what an equal amount of effort and ability would yield in that urban environment.

Now that there are some rewards that you get that you can't measure in dollars--good clean fresh air, just room to stretch, room to wake up in the morning and let out a good yell and not have to wake up all the neighbors. There are a lot of wonderful rewards. We have a little place 39 miles out of Minneapolis. I have the choice of staying in the finest hotels and suites--my, they're good to you when you get to be Vice President--and I am grateful, but I'll be very frank with yo~ that with all the kindness and hospitality that's bestowed upon us from dear and generous friends in my home city and elsewhere, when I have a chance, I just get in the car and go on out in the country. Oh, is it ever good! I love to walk there. I love to get out and breathe the fresh air. I love to be out there to just be there. I sleep better, I feel better; I don't know if I look any better, but my

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wife likes me better when we're out there. It's just better. Now, that's some of the rewards you can't put in the double entry book system and you can't legislate that either. We'll leave that out of the government's program.

This legislation will enable this nation to produce food and fiber in the quantities that we needj and when we need it with increased efficiency and at modest cost in terms of benefits to producers, consumers, and tax payers.

You know what the biggest new story of the year is? It's not the Gemini flights. I'm chairman of the Space Council; I know quite a bit about all of the space programs. The biggest news of the year is that food costs in America are lower than any other place in the world. That's the news of the year. No place in the world so low.

The American worker spends less for food than any other worker ani:where in the world at any time in human history, and he gets a higher quality of food with greater nutritional value, safer, cleaner food. I don't know if that'll make any headlines because it's no conspLracy involved in it. There aren't even Communists around. But, it's a fact. The food basket that the American consumer gets today is the most wholesome, the most varied, the most :·nutritional food basket in all of recorded history and at dlower percentage of your take-home pay than any consumer in the world spends. That's a pretty good record--you can run on that one. That's if you're runnin4( for anything. We spend less than 19¢ of our take-home dollar for food. In tha~ distressed country of India, they spend about 85¢ to 90¢. In the Latin American countries from 60¢ to 75¢ each of their take-home dollar just for food. In the European countries of Germany, France, and England, they spend from 30¢ to 40¢ of each take-home dollar for food. We get a pretty good deal. More of our people will share in our abundance under present policies and I've said that nutritional. standards even for the}Ynder-privileged are rising through the improved food stamped program, school lunch, ,rspecial milk programs, ~ finally the day of needless and expensive and excessive surpluses will end under these presently adopted policies.

But, we shall always provide for adequate research and I want to compli­ment this Ohio Farm Bureau on their leadership for what we call the security reserves that are needed for 4.~rica's national security. Present agricultural policy pro­vides flexibility inrfaw for adequate reserves for food and fiber necessary for national security and emergencies and as a member of the National Security Council, this government has given thoughtful and high priority consideration. I can tell you right now in this tragic moment for our men who are battling in far away place~ that food is on the National Security agenda. You can't win in VietNam without rice. Yes, you need courage, strong men, planes, guns, bombs, but I wish to tell this audience right now that food and fiber~just as vital to our victory t9ere as any instrument of war. There'll be no peace; there's no hope of peace) ;(here's no hope of pacification of the country; there's no hope of a South VietNam free from Communist agression and Communist infiltration and Communist control without adequate supplies of food.

So, when you speak of what commitments we make in Viet Nam, let me assure you that one of them is food. I've just come from meeting on this subject and thank goodness, we have the food. We're always worried about the Russians and the Chinese. Well, we have right to be. The Chinese are very agressive. The Chinese Communist Regime, the Chinese people themselves are like all other people. They like to be left alone; they want to live in peace. The Russians as people I'm sure felt the same way. I've met a number of them. I haven't found very many of them who wanted to start shooting.

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Vice President's Address -- 9

But, the government in the Soviet Union today has huge rockets. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars to find out how many they have and where they have them. We have thousands of people trying to get this information and we know they have some big ones and they have big boosters, big missiles, and big rockets and big guns and big armies and a powerful navy and a huge air force and big atomic bombs--a hundred megatons atomic bombs--bigger than ours, not more of them, but bigger. If you are interested in it, I can assure you, it doesn't make me happy, but I can assur< you there are enough bombs already to kill everybody twice. We don't worry about the number of bombs.

Then, what is it that is the Achilles'Heel of the Soviet Union today? Well, hopefully, we feel and trust that the Soviet Union doesn't want to commit agression~less she be obliterated and I think the leaders of the Soviet Union are responsible. They know what a nuclear war would be. They know there'd be no industrial structure or any social structure left if a nuclear war broke out that they started, that the effects of our bombardment would be unbelie~ble. But, they just can't feed their people. ~

They have all these planners; they have all these bright economists; they have this Marxist ideology; they have all of this dogma and doctrine and they can build cement plants and atomic p~ayts and hydr~lectric plants and plows am traetors and they can put up the AsW~ Darn and they can do unbelievlable things. They really put up Sputnik; they put up a space craft the other day that weighed 12~ tons--the largest one we put up so far weighed 7,500 pounds. It takes a mighty big booster to put up a 12\ ton space craft. That's 1~~ putting up a whole ball­room, a banquet room in orbit. ~~ 1fhey can do that,rthey cannot and they do not know how to produce enough food and fiber to feed their own people .

So, America's agriculture is the frontline of our security; America's agriculture is as integral, is as vital a part of defensive strength of this country as our atomic arsenal and your government is aware of it. I couldn't be happier when I read in the press that this great Federation, that this great Ohio Farm Bureau, was calling upon its government to watch its reserves of food and fiber so that we had enough. After all, we're a growing nation; we have worldwide comrnit­mentsfand I can assure you that your President.,~-411!1 your Vice PresidentJ a.l your government, your cabinet, your Congress is aware of it and that security reserves

I )

are there and w~be so designated by law. ·

More and more American farmers will be called upon to supply world markets . They will be better able to do so because they will be competitive. Farm exports have been running at the rate of about $6 billion annually for the last two years, which means that one out of every five acres of farm production goes into world markets. When we talk about the balance of payments deficit, I want to tell you something: Farmers aren't shipping out of this country our dollars; the farmers are not shipping out of this country our gold; the farmers are shipping out of this country our products that have to be paid in dollars. American agriculture has been the salvation of our gold supply and I'm concerned about the balance of payrnentsde­ficit. So the President is even more concerned and he has called upon industry and finance which have responded wonderfully in a cooperative voluntary way1 to slo\\1 down the outflow of dollars in this economy, to slow down the outflow of investment of this economy overseas so that they will not call for the gold because we want the word "as sound as a dollar" to be something more than they repeat in a movie. As sound as a dollar is important. We want the whole world to know that the American dollar, the American financil structure, the credit structure of this country is strong and sound--this is a part of our security too.

How have we kept it that way? One of the largest cash exports from this country happens to be soybeans. This past year it exceeded airplanes. Agriculture

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Vice President's Address -- 10

last year yielded for this great America, for her financial security, for her world reserves of gold, $6 billion and we hope that next year or so, the next few years we hope that it will exceed $8 billion. We can do that if we search for markets. We're doing that under the Food for Peace Program. We've taken our surplus food and gone into areas with that food under what you might call a testing program, a market development program, and we've developed whole new markets for American agricultural supplies to the benefit of everyone.

Didn't I see a fine statement of policy here from yourown Ohio Farm Bureau? I have a release here dated November 2 which states that the major con­cern of Ohio farmers this year, . and then it goes on to report about education, high taxes, future farm policies, and it is telling about Congress passing the four-year Farm Act. Most farmers believe that greater use should be made of our productive capacity to increase the diets of thoreliving in under-developed coun­tries of the free world. The emphasis upon the use of our abundance. I have here your national agricultural policies and I'm taking these back, may I say, for our discussions in the <rabinet. 11 We recommend a plan to more efficiently utilize our food resources in order to provide greater national security and make a substantial move toward world peace. 11 Well, those are wonderful words to my ears. I've been fighting for their cause for most of my life and it goes on and asks for an ex­panded strengthened Food for Peace Program and I know that you have been studying proposals of my n9xt door neighbor, my good friend who I helped get into politics, George McGovern, Jenator from South Dakota, who~ director of the Food for Peace Program, wh~, if I do not sound too immodest, took up where I had to leave off when I left the Jenate as a champion for the use of food and fiber as an instrument of national policy on the part of this country.

If there is any one thing around which all farm organization are united, if there is any one rallying standard around which we can get every known farm group to stand together, it is for the better use of our food and fiber as an in­strument of peace of economic development as American policy overseas.

We're not only for that. And, may I say, that your effert here will be very, very helpful in the coming months as new decisions are being made. But, these resolutions and your policy statement will be helpful in the Congress of the United States when the appropriation and the necessary authorization legislation needs to be obtained. We know today that two.billion of the three billion people on the face of this earth face imminent hunger or famine or they're subsisting on barely marginal diets. And, we also know that unless we, in America, help with our great abundance and our capacity to produce that there will be starvation. We also have to help other countries improve their own productive capacity. We have to ask them to quit buying so many arms and start buying some tractors, to quit spending their money, if you please, on some projects that they may need 20 years from now and start building some fert{i1izer plants and to apply modern techniques.

~

But, the margin of victory for freedom, as I see it today, is the capa­city of American agriculture to help relieve the suffering. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not only good international policies, it is not only good agricultural or international economics, it's good morals. I can't feel too good when I know that we can and should do more.

We ar;yupposed to be a nation of religious conviction; we have religious freedom. Jew or ~ntile, Catholic or ~otestant, whatever may be your religion. These religions all agree upon one thing: that God created man in His own image and the most priceless gift of the Djvine, of God Almighty, was man. That within each of us there is a $park of thej[nfinite, we call it7oul. This is what differ­entiates this belief about human dignity which is based upon this spiritual coneept

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Vice President's Address -- 11

is what differentiates the free man and his iPee philosophy of freedom from the totalitarian. The real moral premise for government by the consent of the governed is no man has a right to be governed without his consent because every man is the son of God, a creature of Divine Providence, and if that be the case, if we are as religious as we say, if we are only one palf~as w say, we could still do a lot more; but if we believe what we say th~W we have a moral obligation to help feed the hungry particularly when we can do it, to help heal the sick particularly when we know how, to help lead the blind particularly when we know how, and to teach the illiterate.

I've had a very simple philosophy about this. I don't think a person ought to waste his time talking about these things unless he believes it. And, you cannot have peace where one third of the world lives well and two thirds in misery. Because the two thirds have learned how to kill. If you don't believe so take your afternoon newspaper. They know how to kill the best that we have. The very best that we everf put in the field are in Viet Nam tod~y. The cream of Americaj t he best; -~allege graduatesj ;(he best of weapons1 )(nd, some simple, hungry, little peasant could kill them. And, out of the seed beds of poverty and famine and disease, come these dogmatic and totalitarian doctrines and leaders. They offered them a quick Utopia, easy panaceas.

The hungry and the sick and the illiterate know not how to differentiate. They just want something.

So, food is an instrument of peace and understanding. It's an instrument of survival. L~ies and gentlemen, governments do what you want them to do in any free country. Your government is not in Washington; it's in you. Washington's but a mirror of what the body politic looks like and thinks. And if onee in a while you see something down there that looks a little scrubby, you might even find it back home. Because a government representative is like putting a mighty huge mirror over the whole natio~ and if you look up and see a dirty face now and then, it might be yours. This government will do what the people want it to do. An informed people, a moral people, a people who are dedicated and I'm one of those who believe those who work for peace have to be courageous as a man in the field of battle. I don't believe you get peace by appeasement and I don't believe you get peace by just wishing for it and sitting back and rocking in the rockin' chair and saying I hope it comes. I think you get it by building, working, ~ creatingJ aaW designing

1a.a planningl~ sacrificing

1 and suffering because peace is life and

food and fiber used properly has something to do with this life of people.

I remind you that in the year 2000, just 35 years from now, the world's population will be doubled at a minimum so American abundance and agricultural know-how will be at a premium and it is the only hope for many of the people to main· tain their subsistance in building productive economies.

Now, I leave you upon this note.

Our farm families not only must earn income; they're not only soldiers in the battle for freedom but they're citizens and every new program, everything we do today ejfects these families. There's a need for new education programs, a new emphasis on education in nural America. Ladies and gentlemen, most of the pvverty in this country is in the countrt:}ide; most of the inadequate schools in America are in rural America; the worst slums are in rural America. We don't like to hear that but it's still true and so we're beginni~at long last to start to tool-up rural America ~or better living through vocational education, technical education, rural housin&~ter systems. We brought electricity to the countr~ide. My, there was a great fight about that. You would have thought that was the end of

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everything. I guess those who were resisting rural electrification just had an ove~upply of old kerosene lamps that they wanted to get rid of before the light bulbs got there. But, rural electrification never hurt anybody; and in fact, it's helped everyone.

So, our new farm bill and other legislation provides broad new programs of education for our youngsters from rural America and urban America. It'll close the lag that places the rural school child two years behind ·the average boy or girl in the city, did you know that? That's your educational evaluation of rural educa­tion all over America. Now that may not be true in all Ohio. I don't want to thin~ it's true in Minnesota but it could be in some areas.

A new rural housing program will close the housing gap in rural America, where oneout of every four homes should be replaced or given major repairs. Have you traveled in some parts of this country? You'll see buildings that haven't been painted in 25 years. A new community utilities bill ~grants~loans that will re­vitalize some 15,000 rural towns and villages that are without water or sewage facil ties, without fire protection, without recreation facilities.

People I live aside of a lovely community. one that they put long time ago and

wonder why the youngsters, the young men leave small towns. Well, little small town in the country in Waverly, Minnesota; it's a But that community didn't have a sewage system; they had the

in 20 years ago--a little old septic tank. That'd gone out a they were dumping ra\-7 sewage into a beautiful lake.

Two years ago, they put in a sewage system, the community is better, the lake is better; they hardtopped their streets; they improved their schools; they're putting up a library; they have a little village park; there's a new spirit. They put in a water system. Why not~ Running water is not the name of an)ndian chief. Running water is good for people. So, at long last, we decided that there might be some areas in America that might need pumps and water systems, and we're going to do something this year for 15,000 rural towns.

That isn't enough but that's a start. We declared war on poverty in thif country and inadequacy. We're raising a new standard, and the standard is excell­ence. That's the only way we can survi~e. We're a tough, competitive world; and the people we have to compete against frequently don't live by the rules of the game. So, I only know of one way to survive in this kind of world and that's to do a little better. Our astronauts are symbolic of what I speak. I'm sure you know some of them. I know them very well. I work with them. I was with Scott Carpenter two days ago. He's the national chairman of the Christmas Seal Program. I know Conrad, Cooper, Shirra, and McDivitt; I've been with them. They're just marvelous human beings--educatEJG> mature, balanced, decent, wholesome, hardworkjng, dedicatee men. Did you notice when they report back when they're up there in that capsule? My gracious, that's really something to contemplate. When they're up there report­ing back they never say ..•• From down below that's Chris Craft. He's the fella who's in charge of all of these missions. By the way, he's Christopher Columbus Craft--the man that continues to help discover new worlds. . . • Chris Craft is down there and he's guiding; and he will say, "Now, Commander, how you doing? How's this and how's that?" vlhat do you think the response is? Do you know what Chris Craft would feel if the boys come back and say, 1'0kay." They'd abort the flight. They'd call it off--that would mean everything's in trouble. The astronaut says, "A-okay." Excellent. And if it isn't going excellently, at lease enough of the whole apparatus going excellently, you don't have much more to say except gooc[:pye.

So, ladies and gentlemen, let's make our standard for America, that

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standard the country that is by far the hope of the world, the best that we've developed thus far; let's make our standard "A-okay'--excellence.

I want to thank every member here for your patience today and I hope that what we had to say here has been of some value to you. It's been good to think out loud with you. Maybe sometime some of you can lecture me, and I'll look forward to seeing you down in Washington the next time you're there.

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